poopbunny

That may indeed be the case now.

When "premium" rewards cards were introduced, they reduced the "interest free days" from about 58 to 44, supposedly because of the cost of funding the rewards.

Oh yes, they also make a killing on FX conversion.

In the old days, I remember earning double points on my ANZ Qantas for overseas purchases.

sbiddle

I understand fully how credit cards work - but I don't think you understand my post. Nowhere did I mean that Air NZ's credit card fees fund A$ or status points.

The changes that have occuured in NZ, Australia and the UK in the last few years with the Commerce Commission, ACCC and OFT that essentially allowed credit card surcharges are very logical from a competition perspective as they create fairness in the market.

Air NZ were still saying last year that they lose money on CC fees which I don't believe for one minute. What annoys me however is that a $29 domestic fare is charged $4 whereas a $5000 business class fare is charged $17.50 - and one way of looking at that is that people flying economy are cross subsidising credit card fees for business class fares.

Xiaotung

I know where you are coming from but I just don't think it's fair. You said yourself that economy class pax are cross subsidising business pax. And standard cardholders are cross subsidising premium cardholders. Visa/MC holders are subdising Amex cardholders. Where is the fairness?

When you use your credit card, you are using tomorrow's money today. To the merchant, if it wasn't for the credit card, the sale could be lost. Would you rather worry about a few dollar credit card fee or the sale itself? This is probably why business pax don't get charged enough as they have already forked out thousands of dollars. Unfortunately those debit cards have broken the cozy world of credit card which is why people are not recognising the original notion of using tomorrow's money today.

minjunkwak

Today, I got a letter from Air New Zealand (I'm Air NZ Gold) asking me to sign up to their new Platinum credit card. They had "streamlined" my application already and I just had to fill in my name and some other information and just send it in.

It also said that I would get 50 status points just for signing up before December

I'm sure other Gold members should start receiving this in the mail soon.

southboundPete

Thanks.
Received Status & Airpoints on the 1st November so all good.
I heard that so many people applied for the new card that they couldn't keep up with demand, so quite a few people including yourself have had to wait I guess...

poopbunny

Each overseas transaction has 3 lines.
- original charge
- currency conversion assessment
- foreign currency transaction fee

Some might like it, I find it damn annoying.

sbiddle

It's a requirement for banks to display this. This came about after a court case ~10 years ago.

I ended up from memory getting something like $100 or $200 refunded by ANZ as a result, most of the banks all had to refund customers some of the charges incurred during foreign transactions over the course of several years.

poopbunny

ANZ discloses it in the same line inside the description/particulars column

brucelee

Not happy that they have now come out with an incentive to apply for this new card after I have already got the card- i suppose it doesnt pay to be an early adopter of new things. Will have to email them and ask if they will retrospectively give me the 50 status points- worth a try.

Saxphile

Please let us know if you have any success.

JANZFlyer

Awesome, although I am gutted that I still have not received this email! Did it come through as part of a monthly updates email or completely separate?
Decided I will switch given the much better status points earn

Gypcat

The invite comes via snail mail in the form of black card envelope. Once you have sent back your acceptance, Kiwi Bank may give you a call (I may have received a call to as I requested a additional card for my wife and they wanted to confirm my email address to answer some additional questions).

Received my card last Friday so it took about 2 weeks once they received my confirmation I wanted to join.

My AirNZ profile updated to show the 200 Airpoint dollars advance more or less straight away once I had received the phone call

West45

Yep me too, the first response I got back was that they would look into it, and will respond next week. Will let you know what they say

sbiddle

I spoke to a cards product manager at ANZ today expressing my dissatisfaction with their decrease in dollar earning and increase in yearly fee.

In a nutshell if you're an ANZ customer don't expect them to offer anything in the short term to match Kiwibank, they've said they have no plans to do this or change their current offering.

NZhop

I was transferred automatically from the Kiwibank Platinum card to Air NZ Airpoints Platinum - very smooth process!